By Li Han

Staff Writer of the Tsinghua News Center

Tsinghua alumna and current assistant professor at the University of California in Berkeley He Lin has been named one of the MacArthur Fellows for 2009, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation announced on September 22. A total of 24 talented individuals, including seven scientists, received this prestigious award this year.

He Lin is a molecular biologist whom the Foundation recognized for her research that advances the understanding of the role of microRNAs in the development of cancer and enhances the groundwork for future cancer treatments.

Born in 1974, He Lin received a B.S. from Tsinghua University in 1997 and a Ph.D. from Stanford University in 2003. She was a postdoctoral fellow (2003-2007) at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory prior to becoming an assistant professor of molecular and cell biology at the University of California in Berkeley last year.